


You cannot eat love, nor buy a horse with it, nor warm your halls on a cold night,

by historiareiss



Category: A Song of Ice and Fire - George R. R. Martin
Genre: F/M, i truly hope i don't drop this one too because i love the idea a lot, my rarepair deserves to have more content on here too, there are gonna be at least three or four chapters according to my plans
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-06-09
Updated: 2019-06-26
Packaged: 2020-04-23 11:35:32
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 3
Words: 2,591
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19150225
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/historiareiss/pseuds/historiareiss
Summary: The title is something that Tywin tells Jaime as a boy. It is not entirely true, though, for love used to warm Casterly Rock's halls on many a cold night, so long, long ago, when Lady Joanna was still alive.





	1. Chapter 1

**261 AC**

  
"What are they laughing at?" Tywin scowled, gritting his white teeth in his mouth. He was so young, scarcely older than eight-and-ten, yet his character was as grave and hardened as if he had been as old as eighty. Prince Aerys, who by now was his friend, or so he liked to call himself, just shrugged, then tapped him on the shoulder. "Leave them be. Soldiers grow bored when they're not fighting a war, and ever since the Stepstones, we have known nothing but peace."

"You make it sound like a bad thing... not being at war." Steffon Baratheon towered like a tree trunk over Aerys's lean and slim build. He could have been very fearsome, if it weren't for his incapacity to remain serious for longer than a split second. Tywin always privately begrudged him for that and deemed him a big fool.

_A man with such a potent build and effective swordsmanship should aim to be feared, not loved._

Perhaps Tywin envied him too, for his house was powerful and respected all throughout the Realm. His parents, upon dying, would leave him an intact lordship, and a pristine clear reputation as their legacy. But what about the Lannisters of Casterly Rock and their foolish liege?  
The mere thought brought a sour taste back to Tywin Lannister's mouth; a distasteful flux of bile made his thin lips twitch.  
“What I know is that soldiers do a lot of talk, and at my friend's expense. I shall not abide it when I am king!” ruled Aerys, like he was to be crowned the next morning.

_As if I would allow that._

Aerys Targaryen was the crown prince and heir apparent to the iron throne, yet there was some vile, overbearing streak in him that made him most unfit to rule the Seven Kingdoms in Tywin's eyes. And most definitely to put the Lannisters' situation to rights as well. He would have to take care of that himself, and at once.

“I shall go back to the Rock for a while. I have business to take care of there.”

Getting away from the court did not sound too bad all of sudden, though, as he had grown tired of his companions, and their bottomless stupidity and entitlement.

"You leave us just when your lovely cousin learns that she has lost her father in the War? She is in dire need of some manly comfort, that one, but worry not; I shall provide it in your absence, my friend."

Aerys' violet eyes gleamed with some sort of malice that did not escape Tywin. The young prince harboured a vivacious lust for the lady Joanna, who was part of the princess Rhaella's retinue, and half of the court whispered of the prince's burning passion for her already. And it was true that his cousin had just lost her father on the battlefield. Jason Lannister had been Tywin's uncle, a reckless fool, but brave, and died a warrior's death while Tywin's own father hid from the war inside Casterly Rock's walls. Joanna ought to be proud of her father's deeds, and Aerys knew her very little if he deemed her so feeble and weak as to seek comfort in the arms of a man like him. Tywin pursed his lips together, and turned on his heels. He could not be bothered with the games of children, when he had a legacy to restore.

  
\---

  
"Tell my father I am here." He declared, bursting in the feasting hall like thunder on a spring day. Tygett and Kevan walked at his side, bold and steady in their pace. Tywin was not one for formalities, and thus entered Lord Tytos' bedchamber before the servant could return with his leave, and so did his brothers.  
The Lord of Casterly Rock was still abed. His scarcely clad mistress didn't cower despite the intrusion, ever arrogant and inflated with pride as if she had been the lady of the castle. Tywin could feel his temper rise to his face at the mere sight of her, yet made sure that his stern face would give nothing away. He had to be cold and firm. Only fools would rage and flare up in the face of a slight such as this.

  
"What's the meaning of this, you three?" Lord Tytos forced himself to say something, as it was expected of him, but it was apparent that he did not really put any vigor in his words. What ever he said always came out half-hearted and feeble.  
Tygett managed his anger way worse than his elder brother, so Tywin had to steady him by promptly gripping his arm. The two brothers exchanged a pair of  forceful looks. In the end Tygett was the one to relent, and let Tywin speak instead. They were fierce lions asserting their dominance over a common prey, and Tywin always won the power game between them, which only made Tygett grow even more wrathful as the years went by.

"This has gone too far, Father. We intend to make things right and restore House Lannister to its former splendour, whether you allow it or not." His voice was iron. Whenever Tywin Lannister's lips parted, the entire world fell silent, hanging on his every word. Even the walls would wait for what he'd say next.  
Tytos swallowed a lump in his throat. Kevan could see him tremble even beneath the bedsheets. Still, he held onto his woman, and muttered something under his breath.  
  
"You are not the Lord of the Rock, boy... I am."  
  
He had to recognize that his father was braver than he was given credit for. Defying Tywin, even so feebly, was not something that many a men would do.

Tywin stunned his father with an icy green glare.

"You are the lord of nothing but bandits and outlaws raiding our lands unscathed, and unruly vassals that won't pay your due. If the day you can call yourself the Lord of the Rock again ever comes, it shall be because I made it so."


	2. Chapter 2

It was hard at first, for his vassals had lost every ounce of respect for their liege over the years of Lord Tytos' ineffective rule. Tywin expected some resistance from the lords and ladies of the West, who had followed no will but their own for the longest time, so it came as no surprise when Lord Walderran Tarbeck rode all the way to Casterly Rock, armed and wroth as if he would ride to battle, his broad florid face unusually dark.

  
"What brings you here, my lord?" asked Tywin, when the man was ushered into his parlor. The proud lord of Tarbeck Hall looked around, visibly puzzled. He did not dignify Tywin with a glance until later, when he eventually realized that Tytos Lannister was nowhere to be seen. "I am afraid you won't find my lord father around."

  
"Well, where is he? I didn't come all this way to speak to his arrogant overreacher of a cub."

  
"You shall answer to me as to what pertains your unpaid debts to my house, Lord Tarbeck. And you shall settle your payment while I still ask you graciously." His voice was low, yet sharp, and it chilled the air in the chamber. Kevan, who was bent on some paperwork, could hear the exchange from his chair, and raised his brow to look at it.

  
"What? You presume to threaten me, boy?" roared Lord Tarbeck, walking up to Tywin and towering over the youth's slim build with his broad body. And yet, the Lannister did not flinch. Kevan joined his brother's side, and together they met the man's fury with a cold demeanor.  
"I do not make threats. And I am not my father." He then beckoned at the guards who stood at each side of the parlor's door, and bid them to take Lord Tarbeck to the dungeons, where he would be held as a hostage, until his kin would pay their debt to the Lannisters.  
More guards had to intervene, for the Lord of Tarbeck Hall was mad with rage, and would not be dragged away quietly.  
  
When the uproar died down the corridor, Kevan addressed his elder brother. "The Tarbecks and the Reynes are going to take this as a slight. They are sure to rain down on us with their army."

  
"Let them come. They shall hear our roar louder, if they come."

  
\---

  
It had been bloodshed, but it had been necessary. They were traitors and were met with a traitor's end, or so Tywin told himself when his conscience bothered him at night. He was young, and albeit he showed many talents beyond his years, he still had a conscience. He could only hope that it would go away with age.  
The mere thought of ending up like his father was more terrifying than feeling responsible for a thousand deaths. The latter, at least, he could bear.

And then he thought of Joanna, somewhere in King's Landing now, and wondered if she had gotten word of what he had done in the West, for their house.

Had she been proud at the news, or horrified?  
Had she heard the song they named after the bloody deed?  
He disliked songs, and the bawdy gossip of people. Joanna ought to be the same, or so he hoped.

They hadn't seen each other in so long, he could scarcely say what she was truly supposed to be like anymore.  
He harshly woke up the naked woman sleeping at his side with a hard tug, bid her to gather her clothes and coins, and leave him.

In the candlelight Tywin could finally see that she did not look half so beautiful as he had seen her in the dark. She did not have Joanna's golden hair, or her plump lips, or her sharp nose, or her piercing emerald eyes that would cut a hole in men's faces when she turned to look at them.


	3. Chapter 3

**262 AC**

  
Being summoned back to court with such a haste put Tywin in a irritable mood that lasted through the whole journey. He found the Capitol to be as stinky, hectic and dirty as ever.  
The huge crowds of people would part in front of his horse when he rode. Judging from the look on the bystanders' faces, they were still in mourning for the late King Jaehaerys, who had just passed away.  
Or maybe they had heard the Rains of Castamere here too.  
Either way, this was an unhappy people, and that alone could speak volumes about their ruler.  
The young crown prince Aerys, whom Tywin himself had knighted at the Stepstones, had ascended to the iron throne just two days prior to his arrival in the city. Thankfully, he had missed both funeral and coronation. Witnessing his friend's success from up close would have left a sore taste in his mouth. He had no doubt that the reason behind this hasty summoning was all because Aerys could gloat and make a show of his newly inherited power.  
Kings, and especially Targaryen ones, had the whimsical desire to be indulged in their follies. That's how their madness festered.

  
_If he thinks I will listen to his nonsense and kiss his boots, he should bloody well think again_.

  
But Aerys did not look mad, or gloating. He had grown even more handsome than when Tywin last saw him, his thin body had some consistency to it now and his violet eyes held one's gaze with a steadiness that hadn't been his before. The King rose from the iron throne when he saw his friend, and walked towards him with a good speed, and when they were face to face, he wrapped his arms about his neck.  
Tywin Lannister stirred awkwardly in the embrace. He did not like the notion of bending the knee for him one speck, but it was better than hugging in front of the entire court, so he pulled away from the embrace and went down on his knees instead.

  
"Your Grace." The words came through strained, tight lips, but they came. Aerys bid him to rise, and so he did.  
"I knew you would come, my friend."

  
Did he have any choice in the matter? Aerys was King now, and defying a royal summons was treason. It was better for everyone if he thought that he had come solely for the sake of the friendship between them, though, so Tywin let him believe that.  
"We have heard so much of you. I knew you were off to great deeds when you departed from court, a year ago." The King said, as they both took to walking around the court side by side. "You ripped those bastards out, root and stem!" His temper and his language were still the same as ever, and thus not very kingly.  
"And you have become the King of the Seven Kingdoms and Protector of the Realm while I was away. That is no trifle, either." Tywin observed, coldly.  
"About that... I may have need of you, Tywin. I don't know who my friends are here, and I feel utterly alone in a nest of vipers." Young Aerys set his pride aside, and openly admitted that he needed his help. That alone ought to be enough to shock anyone.

  
"A dragon shouldn't fear a bunch of snakes." Tywin retorted, disdainfully. He knew he should have just feigned himself too humble for the honour, only to accept it on his knees before Aerys could retreat it. Yet, he felt angry and spiteful towards his friend for some reason, and could not bring himself to comply with him.  
The King's violet eyes gleamed with hatred for a second, but then he squinted, and bursted out in a fierce laugh, all the more to irk Tywin. "You have not changed one speck. But think of it, Tywin, you and I, the lion and the dragon, side by side once again like we were at the Stepstones. We would rule the Seven Kingdoms with an iron fist, and nobody would dare opposing us!"

  
Tywin liked the sound of that more than he cared to admit, and yet, the sour taste in his mouth would threaten to make him retch any second. He knew it would only get worse, until the source of that unease would be addressed.  
"You honour me, Your Grace. You may dispose of my service however you require."  
The Westerman felt a pang of pain in his chest as he spoke the words. He knew he would grow to regret his decision when he thought of the Rock, and realized he wouldn't see it again for many many years. He was still hoping to be done with the King as soon as possible, but before he could dismiss himself, Aerys arrested his pacing, and looked him dead in the eye.

  
"Good, good. You have already relieved me of a great burden by consenting to be my Hand. Now, relieve me of another." King Aerys leaned in, a few inches from Tywin's ear. Anyone at court could have seen their heads bent together like that and surmised that they were lovers or accomplices, spreading shameful rumours about the two of them. There was only one thing that Tywin hated more than laughter, and it was gossip, so he promptly tried to recoil, but Aerys grabbed him by the doublet, forcing him to stay close.

  
"Tell me you do not hate me for fucking your cousin on the night of my coronation."


End file.
